Texas Farm Bureau completes policy positions

The Resolutions Committee is charged with reviewing all policy recommendations from county Farm Bureaus, combining and streamlining them for consideration by TFB voting delegates at the organization's convention in Corpus Christi in December.

In all, the committee considered 377 policy recommendations from county Farm Bureaus.

Kenneth Dierschke, vice president of Texas Farm Bureau, chaired the committee, which was composed of three farmers or ranchers from each of TFB’s 13 districts, plus the chairman of the Young Farmer and Rancher Committee.

"The committee dealt with many proposals that are potentially controversial, but we feel the delegates will have a clear picture of what the county Farm Bureaus want done by Farm Bureau this next year," Dierschke said.

Among the resolutions to be considered by convention delegates:

Cost of living adjustments in government farm programs.

Opposition to a ban on packer ownership of livestock.

A strongly worded resolution calling on Mexico to honor the water treaty of 1944. Mexico is in violation of that treaty, depriving South Texas farmers of badly needed water resources

A proposal to equalize tariffs on imports and exports — suggesting that an import tariff on American goods by any nation would trigger similar tariffs on that nation’s goods in the United States.

Opposition to hunting deer in state-owned streambeds as a barrier to trespass and violation of property rights.

Support of funding for the state quail initiative.

Support for transportation of wildlife, providing all health regulations are met.

Allow local sales taxes for economic development to rise from a half cent to 1 cent.

The Texas Farm Bureau state convention will be held in Corpus Christi on Dec. 8-11. State resolutions approved there will become the policy of Texas Farm Bureau. National resolutions that are approved in Corpus Christi will be forwarded to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which meets in Tampa, Fla., in January. Texas Farm Bureau is Texas’ largest organization of farmers and ranchers.